Spin Your Thesis! programme

The LDC at ESTEC

The Spin Your Thesis! programme gives university students and PhDs the opportunity to perform scientific or technological research in hypergravity conditions in a number of fields, such as biological, biochemical, microbiological, opto-physical, physical, material sciences, fluid sciences, geology, and plasma physics fields A Large Diameter Centrifuge (LDC) has recently been developed by ESA, and can cater to experiments that range from 1 to 20 g. With up to 6 gondolas mounted on the long arms and 1 central gondola as a control experiment, this facility can provide, for example, a hypergravity environment for cells and plants, as well as physical science and technological experiments.

Experiments for the LDC can have a size of around 50 cm x 50 cm x 75 cm and weigh up to 80 kg. Several other facilities such as electricity, water and gas outlets are available in the experiment gondolas. Lastly, several facilities for experiment control and monitoring, such as LabVIEW, are present.

With the Spin you Thesis! programme, ESA provides university students with the chance to do experimental research in facilities not usually accessible to them. The programme usually opens a call for proposals once a year in September, which then stays open for three months. During this time, students, together with the endorsing professors from their universities, are encouraged to send in their proposals for experiments in the LDC.

These experiments may cover various fields, as long as relevant research has been done in this field. ESA will select up to four teams, and these teams will be given the opportunity to use the LDC for 2.5 days A team usually consists of 2 to 4 students, and the development of the experiment, after selection, will take around 6 months. After the campaign is over, the results will need to be processed and documented within 4 months. A more detailed timeline can be found here.

SYT is a great opportunity for students to conduct their experiments in hypergravity conditions. Moreover, their research results can be published in papers and journals, and can also be presented at international conferences.

Are you interested in participating in the next Spin your Thesis! campaign? Please check the links on the right side of this page, and see how you can propose an experiment.

Quick Facts

Project:

Spin Your Thesis!

Level:

University

Status:

SYT 2015 campaign will take place from 7 to 18 September, SYT2016 call for proposals will open in September